PNNL

Abstract

Sodium recycle at the Hanford Waste Treatment Plant (WTP) would reduce the number of glass canisters produced, and has the potential to save the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) tens of millions of dollars. The sodium, added in the form of sodium hydroxide, was originally added to minimize corrosion of carbon-steel storage tanks from acidic reprocessing wastes. In the baseline Hanford treatment process, sodium hydroxide is required to leach gibbsite and boehmite from the high level waste (HLW) sludge. In turn, this reduces the amount of HLW glass produced. Currently, a significant amount of additional sodium hydroxide will be added to the process to maintain aluminate solubility at ambient temperatures during ion exchange of cesium. The vitrification of radioactive waste is limited by sodium content, and this additional sodium mass will increase low-activity waste-glass mass.